o

GPS. The driver didn't say hello or ask if I was comfortabl

of exhaust faded away. We entered a neighborhood where the streets

, only men in suits who watched the

ps sounded muffled. He knocked once on a heavy door and s

been waiting for hours. He didn't stand up

n time,"

ve a choice,

have a cho

ind me. I stayed by the w

discuss the t

d what you think you

folder across the desk. It wasn't the thin file from before. This was a structure

I couldn't leave without permission. I could only go to places he approved of. My phone ca

said, gripping the edge of

s bo

No contact with anyone outside without his oversight.

g me to disap

ou to fulfill

gh the sections on behavior and expectations twice, then a third time. It was

d somethin

did

ything to help me finish the sentence. "You're n

N

quickly it made

" I a

t isn't what

pect me to believe that you just want me to live i

ng," he said. "The ter

esn't ma

sn't ha

e under your roof. You want total control over w

N

aint," I said. "T

forward. "You're st

ling or threatening me, which made

all the things my father ow

dy know th

the re

t listed in the c

a label. Tell

pay back the money he borrowed. So he offered something e

ying he pl

understood how

ng he handed me over to yo

a decision to prot

I closed the folder and pushed it ba

"You have unti

oud and clear

n this with so much levity. Sofia,

nto that bakery he had turned my life upside down. I just didn't want him to have the satisfac

I just think there has to be

causing the hairs

ia. I'm sure you understand

you think you can f

You have no other choice. And th

at the door when my phone rang. I pulled it out and s

id, answerin

aint clicking noise. Then the line went dead. I looked at the screen.

hing me. He hadn't touched a phone or a remote, but his

had already been closed. I